: America Is Selling Islam: Is The Muslim World Buying?

As Muslims in Indonesia relax after breaking their Ramadan fasts, they may catch a slick new ad campaign on TV highlighting the happy lives of their American Muslim counterparts. Hoping to achieve with heart-tugging imagery what diplomacy couldn’t, the US State Department is launching a $15 advertising campaign – the largest such campaign to date – in the Muslim world to show that Islam thrives in America and that the two are not incompatible. Organized by “schmooze queen of Madison Avenue” Charlotte Beers, one of the heaviest hitters in the advertising industry, along with the support of a new Muslim group called Council of American Muslims for Understanding, the ads brought together people representing a slice of Amerislamica: a teacher, an entrepreneur, an FDNY paramedic, and the Muslim head of the National Institute of Health. The ads haven’t started running yet, but that hasn’t stopped the critics. Some say that the ads are too patronizing, others say the complexity of being Muslim in America should be highlighted, and still others say that the gesture is hollow unless Muslim concerns over US policies are addressed. In any case, the ads won’t be seen on Al-Jazeera – apparently the price was too high. “What they think they know about the United States is based on distorted images and rumor,” said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher about the ad’s audience. “It’s good for us to tell them our story.”

Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.